Picked up both Batis lenses early this evening. Here are some brief impressions. Both lenses are large-ish in diameter but fairly lightweight. They handle nicely and balance fine on the A7x2 cameras. My samples of the two lenses appear to perform consistently well across the frame…no uneven stuff. Placing the focus point in a corner results in a sharp corner even wide open. The 85mm in particular seems pretty much as sharp in the far corners as in the center. Note that I haven't tested for field curvature, and frankly don't care about it. But I expect I'll be able to place subjects anywhere in the frame and resolve them well via proper use of the focus points. No chance to take photos in daylight yet, of course…that'll come later.Here are a pair of example pics, taken handheld with my A7r2. First the 25mm then the 85mm. Both wide open. These are from the JPEGs as they're only for fun & games.Sony A7r2, Zeiss Batis 25mm lens @ f/2.Sony A7r2, Zeiss Batis 85mm lens @ f/1.8-Dave-

Thanks for the post, and especially the photos.  The thing I notice right off about the Batis 25mm is it's lack of distortion near the edges.  Very promising.The 85mm looks sharp edge to edge too.  Excellent.I can't wait to see some more examples.

It is a very fine duo of lenses. I also managed to get both quite recently, going through the initial batch of images from the B25, looks excellent thus far. Next week I will be able to post images here.As for the B85, just got it yesterday, took a couple of shots of my daughter doing here homework last night, just for testing wide open. Sharpness at f1.8 is biting... AF in very low light was a bit slow, but with sureness.All in all, I think that Zeiss has a wining duo, and this line of lenses is already a hit. The guy in the shop yesterday told me that Zeiss already has sold out their estimate of 2016 production run for these lenses... they obviously underestimated demand...If I were to use one word to describe these lenses: smooth.

Hi davidNice oneEnjoy using them.Glad you have both lenses I would just like the 85mm.There are still very hard to buy in the UK not even seen one.Still might get one for Christmas.CheersRobhttps://www.flickr.com/photos/35042029@N03/Still Breathing

Just for kicks here's another version of my 25mm Batis pic from last night, this time processed from the RAW file on my iPad using the PhotoRaw app along with additional tweaking & downsampling in Photogene. There's some chroma—but no luma—NR. Also no 16:9 crop this time.Sony A7r2, Zeiss Batis 25mm lens @ f/2.Took a bunch of photos outdoors with this lens earlier today at various apertures. Haven't processed any of 'em yet but they look great from a technical standpoint in the camera's rear screen.-Dave-

Congrats, I absolutely love the 85. Been holding off on trying to find a 25 until Sony announces the next lenses - especially since I just got a Canon 16-35 and the $400 28/2 is pretty nice for much less.

All the best with the Batis pair, David.If ever there were lenses to be bought prior to general release these are they. The B85 is a touch better than the famed Leica 90AA with both wide open. The B25 is a new approach to wide angles (along with the Otus 28) - cross frame performance and flat field excellence wide open.You might get the impression CZ wants users to explore the creative possibilities shooting their Batises wide open.*Zeiss just publicly committed to five more FE (Loxia and Batis) lenses within 2016.*..PS Regarding 24/25mm fast lenses here are three competitors, one on a 50Mp body the others on lower res bodies:Here is how an esteemed competitor fares on a high res 50Mp camera:http://www.photozone.de/canon_eos_ff/944-sigma24f14art?start=1and what the opposition is delivering to its owners, on 21-24Mp cameras (which go easy on corner res):http://www.photozone.de/nikon_ff/549-nikkorafs2414ff?start=1http://www.photozone.de/canon_eos_ff/514-canon24f14mk2ff?start=1Look at the f2 results for kicks. That will never happen with the B25. All of them are twice the weight too.

philip pj wrote:All the best with the Batis pair, David.If ever there were lenses to be bought prior to general release these are they. The B85 is a touch better than the famed Leica 90AA with both wide open. The B25 is a new approach to wide angles (along with the Otus 28) - cross frame performance and flat field excellence wide open.Thanks! Yeah, after looking closely at the results of today's pic taking I think these two are the best kind of do-it-all lenses: the kind you mount on your camera, choose your depth-of-field and justhave at it. No worries about eeking out the "best performance."Sony A7r2, 85mm Batis lens @ f/1.8.-Dave-